Spiced Lamb and Chickpeas with Yoghurt Pasta

The surprising combination of cool, creamy yoghurt with the spicy, caramelised meat and soft chickpeas makes this dish a serious contender for one of my favourite dishes to eat. It’s great for this time of year when you want some healthy comfort food.

Vegetarians can make this with just chickpeas, or even throw some aubergine in there instead of the meat.

ingredients

serves 4

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

• 300g lamb or beef mince

• 1 tbsp harissa, or more, to taste

• 2 small tomatoes, chopped

• 1 x 280g chickpeas (I recommend Bold Bean’s)

• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 350g pasta such as macaroni or penne

• 200g Greek yoghurt

• 1 tbsp of chopped parsley, plus extra to serve

• Turkish chilli, to serve

instructions

Warm the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium heat and fry the onion for 5 minutes until beginning to soften.

Turn the heat up to high and add the lamb, season and fry, stirring until golden, about 6 minutes.

Add ⅔ of the crushed garlic, give it a sec to start cooking, then add the harissa, tomatoes, chickpeas, spices and approx 200ml of water. Season well and leave to simmer for 10-12 minutes while you cook your pasta.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta to al dente.

Meanwhile, stir the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, remaining crushed garlic and a tablespoon of chopped parsley into the yoghurt and season lightly.

Drain the pasta, keeping some of the cooking water and return the pan to the heat. Add the pasta and the yoghurt and a few splashes of cooking water and keep stirring until the yoghurt clings to the pasta.

Transfer to plates, spoon over the meat sauce and top with parsley and turkish chilli if you like.